The situation in the Catholic church is kind of like our current political situation here in the US. The guy in charge (The Pope or Trump) is not doing a good job, but for certain reasons, the leader's minions and the rank and file will do all they can to make him look good and to excuse his actions.

In US politics, this means the Republicans will support Trump even though he is a psycho because he will sign off on their agenda. For the Catholic church, this means the hierarchy and the average priest will wax lyrical on Francis the reforming Pope, though he's made no real reforms and is failing badly on issues like sex abuse, the rights of women, divorce/remarriage/communion, and LGBT relationships. Why? Because they don't want to see a return of the little tin god who was the previous pope.